Shonda Rhimes Gossip

EW announced yesterday that Peter Krause has signed onto The Catch, which is the newest drama from Shondaland in which a professional player proceeds to get played. The player is Mireille Enos so everyone else likes to say ‘oh, from The Killing’ but to me she will always be from Big Love which, if you haven’t seen it, is the original binge-able show. Full Story

Lainey once called me contrary. This idea is preposterous, as I am not contrary. (Lainey: you are.) But I will admit that I don’t like to be predictable. If it’s too obvious that I’m going to go a certain way, I like to check myself.
So in this situation, knowing as we do that I’m a pretty avowed Shonda Rhimes stan, I wanted to step back before I was excited. Full Story

I don’t know how to fill in the rest of that title. Because I don’t want to be yelled at. At the same time, I feel like you’re probably not going to be able to avoid it today so if you’re yelling at me, you’re probably yelling at everyone. About the spoiler…
Is it really a spoiler? Is it still a spoiler?
Grey’s Anatomy. Full Story

As you know, we have a lot of love for Shonda Rhimes here. Normally it’s Duana who gets to hog on loving Shonda. But she’s busy today. So I’m stealing this one from her and it’s big. Last night Shonda was named to the National Association of Broadcasting Hall Of Fame. And it’s not like I have to explain why but I will anyway: what would ABC be with Shondaland? There would be no TGIT. Full Story

Duana’s (snarky screenwriter) take
Oh NO, you guys, terrible news!
It seems that Hollywood has gotten a clue, based on how Shondaland kills everything in its path on Thursday nights, how well Jane The Virgin has done, and how Empire has JUGGERNAUTED its way through season one. Hollywood has decided that this pilot season, they should be looking for diversity. Full Story

Sorry, I know in the age of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, I’m supposed to be over the Shonda Rhimes/NYT article. But I feel like the paper and the writer got off way too easy.
One of Shonda’s more rant-y characters (by her own estimation) is Meredith Grey aka Ellen Pompeo, who just announced on Twitter that she’s welcomed a second child. Full Story

The New York Times is trying to apologise about that Shonda Rhimes article. Click here for more information about how they’re explaining themselves. They claim it was never their intention to offend. But is that enough? Can ignorance be excused by the absence of intent?

And, furthermore, there’s been no clarification about how poorly researched Alessandra Stanley’s piece was to begin with. Shonda Rhimes is a producer on How To Get Away With Murder but she didn’t create it. But if we’re talking about what she does or doesn’t create, in her own likeness, how reductive is it to posit that she’s “reclaimed” the “Angry Black Woman” by giving her a voice? Stanley’s misguided praise of Rhimes presupposes that she only writes for people of her own culture – at the expense of the other wonderful characters she’s created that don’t actually meet Stanley’s argument. Read Full Intro

Shonda Rhimes is underrated. People fall on their knees for the Matt Weiners and the Vince Gilligans but Shonda Rhimes? Duana posted about Shonda not too long ago in a piece called How To Get Away With An Empire – click here for a refresher. I posted about her amazing Dartmouth commencement speech in the summer – click here for a refresher.

THIS WOMAN.

But for all This Woman has done, she still doesn’t get the kind of love reserved for the heavy hitters, the men behind shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad. So the New York Times tried to give her some. Read Full Intro

Lord knows I am usually long-winded. But I am so anxious to have you read the article I just read that brevity is essential.
On Friday morning, the NYT article about Shonda Rhimes was published. There was immediate outcry and, most tellingly, there were three or four tweets from Rhimes herself which maybe indicated that this was not the way she had anticipated spending her Friday morning. Full Story

Kerry Washington made her first public appearance since having a baby yesterday at the Crystal + Lucy Awards in LA yesterday with Shonda Rhimes, the mother of Olivia Pope. I wrote about Shonda earlier this week. About her wonderful commencement speech at Dartmouth. About her approach to the Work and her attitude about the Dream. Full Story

I love Emma Thompson. But Emma Thompson made some comments a few weeks ago about motherhood that many people reacted strongly to. Click here if you missed it.

“You can’t be a great mum and keep working all the time.”

No, I’m not a mother but I didn’t find her remarks particularly inspiring.

Shonda Rhimes on the other hand…

Duana sent this to me yesterday and the title of her email was This WOMAN. It’s Rhimes’s commencement speech at Dartmouth. I recommend you read the transcript and then watch the video. It’s amazing. It’s F-CKING amazing. Read Full Intro

The other night around my dinner table, a bunch of 30-somethings all confessed that they were thinking or had thought about going to law school. At least three were still debating it by the time dinner was finished.
It seems like a pretty attractive career, right? Get in there and fight for stuff and have meetings with people in important coats until you get what you want – what you need. Full Story

I still like Shonda Rhimes. I know that’s an unpopular thing to say these days, but I do. I think she’s hit on a formula that works, she’s made a lot of people really happy with what she does, and even though I don’t watch Grey’s Anatomy any more – that played its course for me – I hear it’s still pushing boundaries in its eighth season and that Private Practice does the same. Full Story